Dec 10, 2012

Amiens Cathedral Door Details

I had posted a couple of pictures of Amiens Cathedral some time back. You can see them here. The door has such fantastic details that just two pictures don’t do any justice to this grand cathedral. Here I have a photo essay on the main portal, the central one and biggest of the three. It has a fine display of sculptures around it.

I dug out some info about these sculptures, very interesting, sharing them here with pictures. Christ on his throne, with raised hands and a bare torso in order to show his injuries, is surrounded by the Virgin and Saint John who are kneeling and intercede on behalf of the salvation of the soul and angels carrying the Instruments of the Passion.

The elected are separated from the fully naked damned that are pushed by demons towards the jaw of a monster, the Leviathan. The resurrected leave their graves at the sound of the trumpet. Standing in the middle, the archangel Saint Michael weighs the souls with his scales. At the bottom of the scene, a demon attempts to cheat by leaning one of the pans on his side.Fortunately the cathedral didn’t get damaged much during the two wars. In 1981 this cathedral got UNESCO World Heritage status.

Wiki mentions: “during the process of laser cleaning in the 1990s, it was discovered that the western façade of the cathedral was originally painted in multiple colors. A technique was perfected to determine the exact make-up of the colors as they were applied in the 13th century. Then, in conjunction with the laboratories of EDF (Electricity of France) and the expertise of the Society Skertzo, elaborate lighting techniques were developed to project these colors directly on the façade with precision, recreating the polychromatic appearance of the 13th century.

When projected on the statues around the portals, the result is a stunning display that brings the figures to life. The projected colors are faint to photograph, but a good quality DSLR will provide excellent results as shown here.” See this pic here. A free sound and lighting show is held at the end of the year and in summertime on the parvis of Amiens Cathedral, revealing what the colored façade of the cathedral looked like in the Middle Ages.

21 comments:

What an awesome cathedral! The detail is amazing and your captures are superb as always! Fascinating history as well! Thank you, Indrani, as always, for sharing the beauty and the information. Have a great week!